Jiang Rong: Wolf Totem [Lang Tuteng]This is the true-life story of a man who went to live with wolves in the Mongolian steppes, and like Dances with Wolves, he comes to appreciate the native Mongolian relationship with nature as the shortcomings of Han Chinese culture become more apparent.

What Geoffrey's reading

Andrew Hussey: Paris: The Secret HistoryThis is soft, anecdotal history without hard facts or convincing arguments, but it's still a fun read. Influenced by the History Channel and London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd, it features the unwashed, licentious and satanic elements of Parisian society.

Thomas Gordon Smith: Vitruvius on ArchitectureThis is a beautiful edition of a text I've always had in the inexpensive Dover version, but have never taken time to read. It is the bible of classical architecture, the Roman source and inspiration for all Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque styles to follow. Smith has done a wonderful job of annotating and illustrating the text with original diagrams and numerous photographs.

W. Allyn Rickett: GuanziMasterful translation of the classic Chinese book on statecraft and economic management, begun in the 3rd Century BC in the state of Qi (Shandong today).

Ben Okri: Songs of EnchantmentSimply one of the most evocative writers in English today. Ben Okri won the 1991 Booker Prize for The Famished Road. This continues the story of a boy torn between this world and the world of spirits.

October 26, 2007

Creation and Harmony

Most of Jia's paintings feature a single figure whose calm expression and silent surroundings make for a very peaceful, contemplative image. These paintings introduce two characters, both in the act of creation.

The conflagration in Creation suggests the creative impulse has a destructive aspect as well: the new often sweeps away the old, and Jia's childhood during the Cultural Revolution burned that impression into her imagination. The artist's respect for traditional forms of representation and her academic commitment to beauty hint at her ambivalence to indiscriminate innovation. Yet there is something mesmerizing about the flames, even if the two figures creating it seem oblivious to their heat and fury. It is a stylized inferno, but on the point of becoming real, and this apparent miracle is taken for granted by the women holding their brushes.

In Harmony, the flames of creation are domesticated, contained and turned into a screen of candles that Jia first saw in Berlin. The models are now in the act of turning themselves into a work of art, a theme that Jia has revisited many times. The artist sees her own progress as a continuous process of self-realization and self-refinement, and one should look for true beauty not in the canvas, or on the skin, but in the person and attainments of its creator.